Microsoft has released the Windows 8.1 preview for download, but they region-locked it to 13 specific languages, and Dutch is not one of them. So, even though my Surface RT has been completely and utterly English from the day I bought it, I can't install Windows 8.1 and tell you something about it. Those of you who can download it, why don't you tell us what it's like - or you can head to The Verge who got early access. In case you couldn't tell, I'm a little annoyed that we're arbitrarily being left out once again.

The rationale for the Start Screen is that Windows 7 users engaged it less as a result of the new Taskbar introduced in Windows 7.

No offense meant but I don't see that as a rationale - I see it as an excuse. The real rationale is that Microsoft wanted to force wider exposure of Metro. It was a calculated risk, not a decision made with the user's best interest in mind. Leaving the start menu as it was (as an option at least) would not have in any way impacted users who preferred the start screen...

In fact, the rest of the screen was unusable when the Start Menu was open. It was essentially a modal dialog taking up a fixed amount of pixels on your screen regardless of the real estate available.

That is where I always see this argument going off the rails. If you are a desktop user, you want to see the rest of your screen. Both approaches are modal, so there is no difference in that regard... The difference is, again, if your priority is seeing your desktop why would you be the least bit upset that as your resolution increases you get to see more of it?

In fact after reading your post I think I can honestly boil the argument down further than I could before - the most important feature of the old start menu was that it did not scale with resolution...

Here is the thing... I don't want more functionality if it can't fit into the same footprint, because (as you yourself argued) I hardly ever use the start menu, and when I do I want it to obscure as little of the rest of my desktop as possible. I value the ability to see my desktop much higher than any of the features the start screen brings that I didn't have before.

Its great in Metro - If all my apps were in metro and I had a tablet or other touchscreen that was comfortable to use I would want to use the start screen. But that isn't my reality, won't be for at least 3 or 4 more years (if the apps ever arrive), and I don't appreciate being forced to use something that is offers a significantly worse user experience when I know damn well there is no technical reason I should have to.